Manufacturing electrical harnesses

ABSTRACT

Electrical harness is manufactured by positioning connector housings in back-to-back relationship with their cavities in alignment, inserting wires through the aligned cavities, crimping terminals onto the ends of the wires, and moving the housings relatively along the wires until the terminals are lodged in the cavities. As an alternative embodiment, a removable guide means is used rather than the housing themselves.

United States Patent [191 Kloth MANUFACTURING ELECTRICAL HARNESSES [75] Inventor: James Albert Kloth, St. Petersburg,

Fla.

[73] Assignee: AMP Incorporated, Harrisburg, Pa.

[22] Filed: Apr. 4, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 240,959

Related U.S. Application Data [62] Division of Ser, No. 27,585, April 13, 1970, Pat. No.

[52] U.S. Cl. 29/624, 29/203 C, 29/203 P, 29/203 MW, 29/628, 174/72 A, 317/122 [51] Int. Cl. H01b 13/00 [58] Field of Search 29/624, 630 C, 630 A,

29/203 MW, 203 P, 203 S, 203 C; 317/119, 122, 99; 174/72 R, 72 A, 72 TR, 112, 117, 146

[56] References Cited I UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,439,559 4/1948 Buffingtonur 174/72 A Nov. 6, 1973 Owen et a1 174/72 A 3,027,419 3/1962 3,457,640 7/1969 Rayburn 29/630 R 3,634,571 l/1972 Klepp et a1. 29/203 P Primary Examiner-Charles W. Lanham Assistant Examiner-Joseph A. Walkowski Attorney-William .l. Keating et a].

[57] ABSTRACT Electrical harness is manufactured by positioning connector housings in back-to-back relationship with their cavities in alignment, inserting wires through the aligned cavities, crimping terminals onto the ends of the wires, and moving the housings relatively along the wires until the terminals are lodged in the cavities. As an alternative embodiment, a removable guide means is used rather than the housing themselves.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures MANUFACTURING ELECTRICAL HARNESSES This application is a division of application Ser. No.

27,585, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,101, which is hereby housings have their cavities 16 in axial alignment and wires 26 are passed through the cavities. The insulation is then stripped from the wire ends and electrical terminals 24 are crimped onto the stripped ends as shown in FIG. 5. The clamping means 40 are then removed and the housings 4-l0 are moved relatively along the wires until the terminals 24 are lodged in the cavities as shown in FIG. 1.

In accordance with an alternative embodiment, a guide means may be used rather than the housings, the guide means having openings extending therethrough at the same locations as the locations of the cavities in the housings. The guide means is removed from the hardness after the terminals have been inserted into the connector housings.

Specific details of the embodiments briefly described above as well as other aspects of the invention are set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,101.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing an electrical harness said harness comprising at least two connector housings, each of said housings having a plurality of contactreceiving cavities extending therethrough from its rearward face to its mating face and having contact terminals in said housings, and said harness further comprising conductors secured to said terminals and extending between said housings, said method comprising the steps of:

positioning said housings in back-to-back relationship with the mating faces of said housings facing in opposite directions and with the contactreceiving cavities in said housings in axial alignment,

inserting conductors through said cavities in said housings,

applying contact terminals to the ends of said conductors, and

moving said conductors relatively rearwardly through the mating faces of said housings until said contact terminals are positioned in said housings.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said harness comprises at least three housings and in which two of said housings are positioned against a third housing with the contact-receiving cavities of said two housings in alignment with the cavities of said third housing. 

1. A method of manufacturing an electrical harness said harness comprising at least two connector housings, each of said housings having a plurality of contact-receiving cavities extending therethrough from its rearward face to its mating face and having contact terminals in said housings, and said harness further comprising conductors secured to said terminals and extending between said housings, said method comprising the steps of: POSITIONING SAID HOUSINGS IN BACK-TO-BACK RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MATING FACES OF SAID HOUSINGS FACING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS AND WITH THE CONTACT-RECEIVING CAVITIES IN SAID HOUSINGS IN AXIAL ALIGNMENT, INSERTING CONDUCTORS THROUGH SAID CAVITIES IN SAID HOUSINGS, APPLYING CONTACT TERMINALS TO THE ENDS OF SAID CONDUCTORS, AND MOVING SAID CONDUCTORS RELATIVELY REARWARDLY THROUGH THE MATING FACES OF SAID HOUSINGS UNTIL SAID CONTACT TERMINALS ARE POSITIONED IN SAID HOUSINGS.
 2. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said harness comprises at least three housings and in which two of said housings are positioned against a third housing with the contact-receiving cavities of said two housings in alignment with the cavities of said third housing. 